On 13 March 2025 we held a virtual Innovation Exchange event focusing on cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention.

Lord Darzi's 2024 report on the state of the National Health Service in England identified the continued trend of CVD remaining the leading cause of death in England. Whilst improvements between 2001 and 2010 meant the mortality rate dropped significantly it has stalled since. For the first time in 50 years, deaths from premature cardiovascular disease are on the rise. The NHS Long Term plan sets an ambition of the NHS to prevent over 150,000 heart attacks, strokes and dementia cases by 2029 - an opportunity for innovation.

During this session participants heard from innovators with solutions that address one or more of the following challenge statements:

• Solutions proven to communicate, mobilise and empower patients and communities to access data and information that help to understand, control, maintain and potentially improve their outcomes post-diagnosis of any CVD condition.
• Solutions that aid improvement in patient lifestyle and behaviour change aligned to improving outcomes post-diagnosis of any CVD condition.
• Solutions that improve the identification and treatment of hypertension.

Companies presenting on the day included:

• Holly Health: Healthy Habit Coach - A personalised habit change service. supports coaching the patient to achieve changes related to long term conditions and day to day health challenges.
  
  
• PocDoc: Healthy Heart Check - The ‘Healthy Heart Check’ uses PocDoc’s app-based technology to offer patients a comprehensive cholesterol profile, body mass index score, heart age estimate, and a ten-year risk assessment for having a heart attack or stroke.
  
  
• DXS International plc: Expert care - A clinical decision support tool that automates the collection of personalised information for hypertensive patients, saving time and reducing clinical resource.
  
  
• Suvera - Suvera’s virtual clinic provides an end-to-end solution for long term condition management in primary care.
  
  
• KiActiv - A digital therapy that harnesses everyday movement in all intensities to deliver better health outcomes, improve patient uptake and engagement, and reduce healthcare costs.
  
  
• Avid Health - An AI-powered approach—helping individuals take proactive action to prevent chronic disease progression, improve health outcomes, and reduce strain on healthcare systems.
  
  
• my health ltd: my heart - Designed by experts to support people living with a range of cardiovascular conditions to manage their condition day to day, empowering proactive self-management to support secondary prevention.
  
  
• Sisu Health - Provides highly accessible, self-service health checks in community settings using a network of digital health kiosks situated in accessible places. 

We also announced a new funding opportunity at this event. The CVD prevention innovation enabling fund offers the opportunity to deploy and generate real world evidence for digital and medtech innovation that can help you tackle the challenges in preventing CVD in your organisations. Awards of up to £25k are available. Expressions of interest close 11 April 2025.

Please note this award is for East Midlands organisations only.

Event resources and next steps

If you were unable to attend on the day or would like to rewatch the session, you can watch a recording of the event here. You access a copy of the slides here.

You can download the delegate pack,including a summary of all innovators that joined us and the presenters.

If you would like to connect with any of the innovators featured as a part of this session, please let us know by sharing your email address with us and we can put you in touch.

 If you have any further questions that you would like to ask, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.